Michael Andretti's 'Luckiest Day In Life'

August 19, 1985|by JEFF CORY, The Morning Call

Michael Andretti and Kraco teammate Kevin Cogan may have become the first racers in history yesterday to crash before they even got to the raceway.

While departing for Pocono International Raceway from Mario Andretti's lakeside home near Hawley in Wayne County, the helicopter that was carrying their group became tangled in high tension wires and plummeted to the ground. Fortunately the copter hit a tree before reaching the ground, which helped cushion the fall.

None of the helicopter's seven occupants was seriously injured, though Andretti and Bob Hinkle, a friend of the Andrettis, were taken to Wayne County Memorial Hospital via a state police car. Andretti was released and returned to the track in another helicopter in time to race.

Andretti suffered a strained muscle below his left shoulder, bumps on his head, and a cut on his left hand which bled profusely but required no suture.

Cogan said his back popped out, but he was able to pop it back into place. He climbed into a second helicopter which was also in the air at the time - containing Mario Andretti, his car's co-owner, actor Paul Newman, and others - and made his way to the track. Cogan was forced to leave the race early because of back spasms,and had to be helped from the car, though he was walking fine soon afterward. He finished 17th.

The details of the crash, which occurred at approximately 9:10 a.m., are firmly implanted in Cogan's mind.

"We took off first, and we were sort of hovering, waiting for the other copter to take off," Cogan said. "All the while we were drifting and we backed into high-tension wires. The worst part was I could see it coming, and I was hollering. But he (the pilot) couldn't hear me because he had those earphones on. I kept hollering louder. Then (Andretti business manager) Don Henderson hollered something too, but it was too late. All hell broke loose.

"We were spinning around pretty good, and we were going down sideways. But we hit a tree and I think that saved us. I saw some of the branches that were knocked off and they were pretty big. It was wild . . . you had to see it to believe it. Everyone was shaking. If you've never seen a helicopter fall out of the sky, it's pretty scary. It dropped like a rock."

The high-tension wire sheered off the copter's rotor and the aircraft dropped about 50 feet, Cogan said.

Ironically, Andretti made a joke to Cogan about helicopter safety moments before the incident.

"Just before we took off, Michael was joking around with me," Cogan said. "He reached out and grabbed my seat belt and pulled it real tight, kind of clinched it down. I left it that way."

If Andretti suffered any after-effects from the incident during the race, he certainly didn't show it in the first 18 laps. Andretti burst from his row two starting position to take the lead in the second turn, which he held for the next 17 laps.

Then came the second trying incident of the day for the 22-year-old Andretti. As he was pulling into the pit area on lap 18, his right front tire flew off, necessitating a 23-second pit stop to change three tires and refuel.

"I felt something start to vibrate when I was coming out of the corner," Andretti explained. "Then all of a sudden I saw my tire come flying right past me. I was just lucky I came in."

The incident cost him the lead, but he was able to get back into the race. Then, after nearly colliding with Johnny Rutherford when the latter crashed on lap 134, Andretti was forced out of the race on lap 150 when a two-foot long piece of debris from Pancho Carter's car punctured Andretti's tire and damaged his front wing. He parked his car near the wall and called it a day, ending up 13th. He was in fifth place at the time of the final mishap.

"There's two ways you can look at it," Andretti reflected. "It was either the unluckiest or the luckiest day of my life. I consider it the luckiest, considering I'm still walking.

"I've always heard that bad luck came in threes. First, it was the helicopter crash. Then the wheel came off. I was actually driving around waiting for something to happen to make it three."

Michael's father Mario was in the unenviable position of watching his son's helicopter crash from the second craft.

"I tell you, that was the most traumatic moment of my life, knowing who was in there," Mario said. "It really makes you stop and think how much family and friends mean to you."

Besides Andretti and Cogan, the ill-fated helicopter (a Bell Ranger) contained Henderson and Hinkley, who both suffered a wrenched back and multiple cuts and bruises; Sandy Spinozzi of Nazareth, Michael's fiancee; Tracy Sanford of Phoenix, Cogan's girlfriend; and the pilot, who was not identified.

Spinozzi and Sanford both emerged from the incident unscratched, though Sanford's pants were splattered with blood, presumably from Andretti's cut hand.

All of the ill-fated helicopter's occupants were treated and released from Wayney County Memorial Hospital in Honesdale. "They were lucky," said Dr. Don Henderson, a physician who helped treat the victims at the scene. The two Hendersons are not related, a hospital spokesperson said.

Michael Andretti was X-rayed at the hospital for a possible back injury but none was found and he was released. The helicopter pilot was examined for a lower back pain and another passenger was treated for a small cut on the head, the doctor said.

Cogan flew to the racetrack with Mario Andretti and Newman while Michael Andretti arrived at the track shortly after noon by another helicopter and was hustled on a golf cart to the pit area.